Ching tries to instill confidence in young Dynamo

Veteran knows young Dynamo need positive run

Published 5:30 am, Friday, July 29, 2011

Brian Ching revived his career in Seattle before the team moved up to the MLS.

Brian Ching revived his career in Seattle before the team moved up to the MLS.

Photo: Ned Dishman, Getty

Ching tries to instill confidence in young Dynamo

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Given a break during an intense practice Thursday, Brian Ching gathered his Dynamo teammates for a brief players-only meeting.

The franchise's all-time leading scorer wouldn't divulge what he said to the team, but those meetings rarely are called for compliments.

With a third of the MLS season left, the Dynamo are in position to make a playoff run. Yet there's something wrong.

After missing the playoffs for the first time last season with the oldest team in the league, the Dynamo got younger in the offseason.

At times, they have looked like a young team, especially Saturday night when they lost 3-0 to Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center in a game in which it would have been difficult to pick a Dynamo player who excelled.

"I think the one thing we lack is confidence right now," Kinnear said. "I think we had a great little start in the season when we had a six-game unbeaten streak. Then we took a little rut when we didn't win a lot of games.

"And I think we took a little knock to our confidence individually and collectively, and frustration sets in. So right now with the confidence, it's not as high as you want it to be. But you know with a little turn of luck, a good result can turn it around very quickly."

Sounders in town

The Dynamo's task won't get any easier Saturday night when the Seattle Sounders visit Robertson Stadium. Yet Seattle might be the perfect team for Ching to use as an example of what happens when players lose confidence.

Long before Seattle joined MLS, the Sounders were the A-League club that helped Ching revive his career after he washed out of MLS after his rookie season with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Regaining form

Ching, picked in the MLS SuperDraft in 2001, made eight appearances as a rookie with the Galaxy, who had loaned him to Seattle for a spell that season. Released by the Galaxy, he signed in 2002 with Seattle, where he regained his confidence and began to showcase the talent that made him one of the key members of the national team from 2004 through 2009.

"My first year in the league with the Galaxy, I didn't really have much confidence, and I found my way out of the league real quick," Ching said. "It's something that I learned through the ending of my stay with the Galaxy and all throughout being in Seattle.

"That's why I'm here today. I think some of the guys are struggling with the ups and downs."

By the time Seattle entered MLS as an expansion team in 2009, Ching had been a member of the 2006 U.S. national team at the World Cup in Germany. He also helped the Dynamo win a pair of MLS Cup titles after helping the San Jose Earthquakes win an MLS Cup in 2003 in his first season back in MLS after the Galaxy had released him.

A little more than a year after he was released by the Galaxy, Ching had rebounded enough to earn his first cap with the U.S. national team in 2003.

Voice of experience

Ching, 33, would love nothing more than for his younger teammates to learn from his experience as the Dynamo try to regain confidence.

"I think it just goes up and down," Ching said. "It's a young team. Confidence is a hard thing sometimes when you're younger. You learn to have confidence regardless of what happens. If you don't, your play suffers. It's something that I learned at a young age."